Jesus

New Year’s blessing

/ The Pastor

May the Lord bless and keep you as you leave 2014 and enter 2015.

May you leave 2014 with hope as you confess your shortcomings; remembering that the past is the past.

May you see 2015 as a fresh start; a reminder of the forgiveness you have through faith in Jesus.

May you see 2015 as a gift; reminding you of God’s amazing grace.

May you see 2015 with new eyes, reminding you of the New Life you have through Jesus.

May you know the strength that only comes from God.

May you know peace that only comes from the hope of the resurrection.

May you know the amazing love of God in this new year and may that love shine though your life as a witness to others.

All glory to God our Father through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Happy New Year and Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Morning devotions ~ Longing and Fainting

/ The Pastor

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord ; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. [Psalm 84:1-2]

I like to travel and visit new and interesting places or visit some of my old favorites. One of my favorite places to go is NW Washington. It’s beautiful out there; along the Cascade Mountains and the Puget Sound. I love the seafood and especially seeing friends. And being out on the road can be fun for a while; driving through the mountains, but eventually the traveling and the time away gets old and I begin to long for home. I long for my place of rest and peace.

How lovely is your dwelling place

The psalmist here is longing to go home. He realizes he has been away long enough and is anxiously awaiting the day that he will return to the courts of the Lord. Later in this beautiful Psalm, the author writes, “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.”

We do live in a sinful and wicked world and the heart wired for the Lord longs to return to it’s creator; to dwell in the lovely place of the Lord. Christmas is a time to remember that God has opened the way for his children to return home. And the way home is Jesus. Through faith in Jesus; in his death and resurrection, we can have the hope dwelling in God’s lovely places someday. And when you see your salvation in Jesus, your heart, too, will long and faint for the glory of God and to dwell in his courts forever.

Sing for joy to our living God for He is Good and Awesome!

Have a very Merry Christmas and God bless!

The Pastor -|—

My least favorite day

/ The Pastor

I love Christmas, but recently I heard a pastor say something that saddened me:

“The only thing I love as much as Christmas is the day after Christmas.”

I didn’t quite know what to say to that because I knew what they meant; they were looking forward to Christmas being over 😦

Christmas is indeed busy.  There’s lot’s of extra things to do on top of what we already need to do.  Yesterday morning, for example, I thought I had the Christmas Eve service all planned last week.  I gave the musicians the bulletin outline so they could practice the music, but then my secretary pointed out a mistake I made ~ I put a carol in there twice.  So I had to make some changes and contact the musicians.  And this is all while I am trying to get my newsletter article done, do sermon prep, make a delivery to the nursing home and run a couple other errands.  And then the phone was ringing and I had to try very hard to be patient with people (because it is not their fault that everything was piling up on me).

Christmas can cause a lot of headaches and stress and sleepless night for a pastor but you know something…

I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

For me Christmas is a golden opportunity to preach the Gospel to people who normally don’t come to worship.  It’s my chance to slap people across the face with the Good News of the Christ-child being born for all people.  It’s the perfect time to tell people that Christmas is not a secular holiday but rather a celebration of perfect love coming down to us.  As one of my 4th grade girls said in release time just recently:

“If Jesus wasn’t born then he wouldn’t have died on the cross for our sins and therefore we wouldn’t go to heaven.”

Amen!  That’s the Good News of Christmas.

Next to Easter, Christmas is my favorite day of the year and my least favorite day is the day after Christmas because it means I have 364 days to wait to do this again.

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The pastor -|—

Fear: A prayer

/ The Pastor

Loving and Holy God…

I confess to you that I am afraid.  Afraid of:
~ all I have to do this week.
~ falling short of your’s and people’s expectations.
~ forgetting something important.
~ becoming impatient.
~ losing sight of you because of the demands placed on me.

Holy, God, there is much to fear in this world but I find comfort in the fact that you don’t turn away from us because we fear, but you confront our fears with your awesome Good News.
~ Joseph was afraid to take Mary as his wife but you turned his fear into a godly fear.
~ Mary was afraid and troubled by the angel’s greeting but your turned her fear into a godly fear.
~ The shepherds were afraid at the appearing of the angel in that night sky but you turned their fear into a godly fear.

In the same way, Oh God, turn my fear into a godly fear that I my glorify your Holy name and lead others to do the same.  May my fear of you drive me to run into your loving arms and soak in your amazing love for me.  May my fear of you be the source of my proclamation of the Gospel.  And lastly, may my fear of you dispel my worldly fears that Satan uses to drive me away from you.

Loving God, you are awesome and amazing and wonderful and worthy of all praise and worship.  May your children run to you and fall into your arms.  Through Jesus Christ our risen Lord and Savior I pray…

AMEN!

The pastor -|—

About one thing

/ The Pastor

Happy 1st Sunday of Advent!!!

May your preparations this Christmas season bring you joy as we anxiously await the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

May we not get caught up in the secular definitions of this season.
May we not lose sight of the meaning of this season.
May we not get caught up in the marketing hype of this season.

Christmas is about one thing and one thing only…
a baby
Jesus Christ
our Lord

Let’s prepare and celebrate rightly to the glory of God our Father…

Loving God, we praise for this gift of life, Jesus Christ our Lord.  We praise you that you came to us in such a humble way in order to show us your amazing love to a sinful people.  We praise you that we can have a sure and certain hope through faith in Jesus.  May our preparations this Advent season bring you glory and may we take advantage of every opportunity to proclaim the real meaning of this season. In Jesus name, AMEN!

Merry Advent 🙂

The Pastor -|—

EASTER!

/ The Pastor

CHRIST HAS RISEN!

HE HAS RISEN INDEED!

ALLELUIA!

Enough said 🙂

Have a great Easter day celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Let us pray,
Loving God, through the resurrection of Jesus, you son, you destroyed death and gave hope to the world.  May the words, “He has risen”, speak life to those gathered for worship that they may go out and speak these same words.  Bless those who preach and lead worship.  Bless those who lead music.  Bless those who work behind the scenes.  May you be glorified, may faith be created and/or strengthened and may our worship be pleasing in your sight.  Thank you, O God, for your awesome grace and mercy.  Through Jesus Christ our RISEN Lord and Savior, Amen!

The pastor -|—

Sunday is coming

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

It’s Saturday.

It is the day between Good Friday and Easter.

A dark day.

A bitter-sweet day.

But for those first disciples this had to be a day of deep darkness and hopelessness.  Think about it:  Their teacher, Messiah, friend, hope had been killed and placed in a tomb.  All of their dreams of a new kingdom had been completely destroyed.  Now what?   Their fear of the Jews kept them locked inside but I can’t imagine they would even want to leave anyway.  I would want to stay curled up in bed…forever.

Jesus is dead.

But we are not living in those days.

We know something that they didn’t know then.

It is 2013 and we are living in the days after that first Easter morning.  We are living in the days when we know what happens next.  It is Saturday, but Sunday is coming.

EmptyTomb-50JESUS HAS RISEN!

Dark days come and go in our lives.  Hopelessness enters the scene from time to time.  There may be days when you feel like curling up in a ball and staying in bed.  But know this…

JESUS HAS RISEN!  HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!

Ever since that day when Jesus defeated Satan and destroyed the grip of death, Satan has been trying to shoot arrows of hopelessness at God’s children.  But know this…remember this…boldly proclaim this…

JESUS HAS RISEN!  HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!

Satan has been defeated.  His arrows are powerless.  His threats are empty.  Death still remains but death does not have the final word.  Why?  Because…

JESUS HAS RISEN!  HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!

Have a blessed Saturday knowing that tomorrow is Sunday; that tomorrow is EASTER 🙂

The pastor -|—

Sanitize and Repent

/ The Pastor

John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
[Luke 3:7-8]

This influenza season has gotten me more nervous than any other I can remember.  The number of people being hospitalized and/or dying is alarming.  People young and healthy are succumbing to this illness…and quickly.  So I have started taking precautions:

~ I’m washing my hands more.
~ Using hand sanitizer more.
~ I am suspending hand shaking during worship.
~ We are wiping down and disinfecting commonly touched surface areas around the church building.
~ I am being very diligent…more so than any other year.

When I hear of a friend or someone I know getting sick my heart skips a beat or two.  Recently…someone I know was hospitalized with influenza A and pneumonia.  I am praying hard for healing.

And I know I am not the only one concerned about this flu season.
I know I am not the only one taking extra precautions.
I know I am not the only one changing my life and routines.

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance

And why doesn’t the epidemic of sin cause people to be just as diligent (or even more) about their lives.  I mean…sin is a lot more deadly than any influenza strain nature can devise.  Yet…we often take sin for granted.  We come to worship; confess our sins and then go home feeling some emotion or sense of satisfaction.

But…

is there any life change?
is there any repentance?
is there any running away from that confessed sin?

Or…

Do we continue in our illness, embracing the symptoms, and running to our death?  Sounds dramatic, I know, but sin needs to be taken seriously because God takes it seriously.

How seriously?

Look to the cross; that wooden instrument of death that Jesus was nailed to, suffered upon and died upon.  Jesus died on that cross; taking our sin with him and announcing forgiveness and giving us hope.  But more than that, God gave us the cure to this deadly disease.  God gave us life.

Through confession we expose our disease to God and receive the cure.  But what next?  Sanitize/Repent and produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

Why?  Because of fear of retaliation from God?

NO!

Because God has given us an amazing gift.
Because God has shown us amazing grace.
Because God has given us an amazing future.
Because God is worthy.

Be healthy and produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Sanitize your life.  Run away from sin.  Embrace the love of God.  AND…praise God always and forever. Sin is deadly, but Jesus is for us.

Have a great day 🙂

The pastor -|—

It’s all about Jesus

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
[Matthew 1:18-21]

Here’s another remind for you ~ It’s all about Jesus.

And how can we dare say it’s about anything or anyone else?  I mean…he will save his people from their sins.  There you have it.  It’s pretty straight forward.  Forgiveness of sins…which means everlasting life.

Wow…that’s pretty awesome.

When Zechariah was met by the angel Gabriel and told of the wonderful news that he and his wife, Elizabeth (who was well beyond normal child-bearing years), was going to have a child, Zechariah was hesitant.

“Give me proof.”

The angel was a little miffed and said that he stands in the presence of God and shouldn’t have to give Zechariah proof.  Therefore Zechariah is struck silent until their baby (John the Baptist) was born.  Then Zechariah sang the praises of God.  Better late than never, but either way, God came through because our awesome and grace-filled God is faithful.

“he (Jesus) will save his people from their sins.”

You want proof?  Look to the cross:

cross-carrying-e1299578788837

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus DID save his people from their sins.

There you have it ~ It’s all about Jesus.  Praise be to God!

The pastor -|—

Bread of Life

/ The Pastor

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life.  He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (ESV, John 6:35)

There is so much theologically one can do with this text, but all I want to say is “Thank you, Jesus!”

When I get hungry during the day I eat.  When I crave something more for my life, you, Jesus are there.  Even when I seek after other gods to satisfy my “hunger” you, Jesus, prove to be faithful.  You remind me, “Dear child, I am the bread of life“.  I then seek you and am filled…

…and I wonder why I even tried to find other “bread”.

Jesus…YOU are the bread of life.
Jesus…YOU are the one who truly satisfies.
Jesus…YOU are the one I truly need.

In you, Jesus, we have eternal life.  Thank you, Jesus, for “feeding” me.  And giving me what I need to be truly satisfied.  And what do I need?

FORGIVENESS!

Wow…it doesn’t get any better than that. Thank you, Jesus.

-edh-